Brian Kelly has never been afraid to move players. In his four seasons at Notre Dame, Kelly has filled his secondary with former wide receivers, turned a linebacker into a tight end, running backs into wide receivers, and bounced lineman across the line of scrimmage.

After beginning his career at Grand Valley, the Irish head coach learned quickly that his favorite players often played the position of “football player.” That meant finding a way to get his best athletes on the field, even if it meant keeping an open mind as a young player developed.

We saw early Kelly’s commitment to this principle. His first signing class wasn’t filled with position listings, but rather player types: Skill, Big Skill, Power. That meant that Troy Niklas could start his career at outside linebacker, spending part of his freshman season rushing the passer from the interior of the defensive line. It also allowed him to make the switch to tight end, where in two seasons he played well enough to have some believing he’s a potential first round draft pick in this May’s draft.

Sometimes those position switches don’t always work. Kelly tried turning Theo Riddick into the answer at slot receiver. After so-so results, Kelly pulled the plug on the experiment, transitioning Riddick back to running back in the final regular season game of a disappointing 2011 season. But he was rewarded in 2012, as Riddick became the most trusted back on a team that played for the national championship.

After playing a secondary that at times had four converted wide receivers starting at the same time, Kelly is once again rolling the dice on a few key position switches, with hopes of shoring up the back end of the defense. They include a minor move — pushing starting safety (and converted wide receiver) Matthias Farley outside to cornerback. They also include a major move — taking rising sophomore James Onwualu from offense to defense, even after he started four games as a freshman receiver.

Farley’s move comes after a somewhat disappointing season. After filling in admirably when Jamoris Slaughter went down, he struggled to anchor the secondary. Kelly talked candidly about Farley’s play, acknowledging that the shoes he was asked to fill might have been too big.

“He was put into a very difficult situation,” Kelly acknowledged. “We were trying to get him to replace Zeke Motta and Harrison Smith – two pretty good players, and two physical players.

“He’s not that kind of player… That’s not his best trait. He’s really smart. He’s got some tools that, if we play him in the right position, can really help our defense.”

A cerebral and eclectic student-athlete, Farley came to Notre Dame a raw prospect, new to football and projected as a wide receiver. After spending his first season in the program playing scout team receiver, Farley impressed during spring and fall camp at safety, playing well enough to beat out fifth year safety Dan McCarthy to take snaps against Navy.

Given limited responsibilities, Farley’s athleticism and instincts quickly stood out. But tasked with running the secondary, Farley faced his first true adversity on the field.

“It was a big jump from playing your first year in 2012 to having all that on your plate in 2013,” Farley admitted last week after practice. “You had to know where everyone was supposed to line up. You had to know how everything fits, how you fit in it. Getting the calls to everybody. It was definitely a lot, going through some struggles, the ups and downs, and coming out better for it.”

Better might be at cornerback now. As offenses do more and more to spread the field, the Irish defense will adapt with sub-packages better suited to play a diverse set of opponents. Putting Farley in a quadrant of the field, or playing him “outside in” as Kelly alluded to when discussing the position switch, should allow him to play more instinctual football.

The biggest surprise of spring was the move of James Onwualu to safety. While he only made two catches during his freshman season, Onwualu was an immediate contributor for the Irish, filling Daniel Smith’s role as a physical receiver blocking down field.

Onwualu also made his presence felt on special teams, a key contributor on coverage teams. That presence is likely where the idea to play defense came from, following a similar script to the ones Bennett Jackson and Austin Collinsworth parlayed into starting jobs.

“He’s got great contact skills,” Kelly said of Onwualu. “He’s a ferocious competitor and I wanted to take a look at him because he is such a physical player and he’s got an incredible volume to him in terms of his ability to play every play. So this was a time to take a look at him at safety.”

That Onwualu ends up on the defensive side of the ball shouldn’t be that surprising. Talking with Mike Scanlon, Onwualu’s high school coach at Cretin-Derham Hall, he thought the 6-foot-1, 215-pounder’s best position could be a hybrid safety, physically capable of running with receivers, but stout enough to make an impact in the box.

In the past, Kelly has talked about position switches to help get a player on the field. For Onwualu, going from a position where he contributed as a true freshman to a somewhat stacked safety position is a bit of a gamble, but one that the staff must feel confident about.

After watching last season, it shouldn’t be hard to feel good about the future of Eilar Hardy. Collinsworth likely will be another trusted cog as well. Throw in the healthy return of Nicky Baratti, Elijah Shumate rebounding after an injury plagued sophomore season and Max Redfield being groomed as a starter, and talented options don’t appear to be scarce. How Onwualu fits into this group will be fascinating to watch.

With question marks at a lot of positions as the front seven rebuilds and schematics are adjusted, these position changes are coming at the right time, with spring dedicated to learning not necessarily refining. For the defense to play up to his potential, both these position changes need to be more than mere depth chart support.

If history has shown anything, Kelly has moved contributors to roles that only enhance what they’re doing on the field. If Kelly can hit on the position switches of Farley and Onwualu, it’ll mean good things for the Irish defense.

I hope the corner switch works out for Farley. I know he looked bad in those practice videos but let’s not be too quick to judge since those are his first 2 practices at the position ever. But if I’m being honest, I don’t have high expectations for him going forward. Farley seemed to be one of Diaco’s favorites, and I suspected that Diaco’s departure was bad news for Farley. I hope I’m wrong tho, because he’s one of my favorite guys on the roster, and the tattoo video Keith linked is worth the watch.

The influx of talent these past 2 recruiting cycles has been bad news for Farley. He’ll provide some much needed depth at the position. I like the idea of converting our surplus of WR’s to the defensive side. Too many DB’s out there can’t catch a football.

that is really some brillience there mr. getsome craphead. but i don’t agree about any talent. who are you talking about? i don’t think nd got any high rated defensive players, and if they did they will be on academic probation before the seasons tarts. you guys can’t get out of your own way and more importantly none of you have any good comebacks so i will have to go back to my other board. bye

while i think that is cold i can still get down with the sentiment, sir. too many loafers dragging us down. if we could elimiinate welfare imagine the new weapon systems we would have the dough to invest in. lasers all over the place, stealth everything, drones with little people as pilots. the possibilities are finiteless. just keep my ass out of the fight. go nd. beat northwestern

im not going just yet. have any of you ever wondered why notre dame is located in such an odd place. northwetstern indiana. what? why would a catholic college not be in a major urban center. unless of course you’re including gary as a major area. this kills their recruiting more than anything else i think. worse than the lack of ass. imagine if it was in chicago boston or new york. no stopping them. go irish. beat asu.

You just posted about recruiting and how nd can’t recruit talent. I replied with a fact that they are consistently top 10 in recruiting and you move to that as your comeback?

Do better.

dickasman - Mar 12, 2014 at 12:22 AM

Bob I think he might be on cocaine. That’s how I talk once I get geeked up!

dickasman - Mar 12, 2014 at 12:14 AM

Large, stick around but plz make a better effort on the screen name. The key and hardest part is you gotta find the proper first name. And if you can’t, use a middle initial.

Hugh G. Bush or Harry Bush/Balls would’ve been better. Now drop n gimme 20. Where’s that effort? Large bush is garbage! I went w dick asman in lieu of those two because I was huge fan of anal sex at that time, but at this old age, it’s kinda gross. The gay people ruined it for me.

i would say iran or cleavland. lots of things go to cleavestown to disappear. when is the last time anyone heard from joe azcue? or max alvis. gone. once i went there with some college buds on a friday night and we were supposed to be back for a frat car wash on saturday morning. nope. didn’t ahppen. cleave swallowed us up and didn’t spit us oit until sunday night. thank god i had no monday morning classes.

walt frazer went to cleave to finish his career and no one has ever heard of him since, if i was going to try to ditch the fBi i would go into the old upper deck at cleave municiple stadium. no one ever went there.

It is me. I’ve had a lifelong secret aspiration for a moronic alter ego to troll a board I frequent. Tranny escort: my next avocation. Good call Dick.

largebush - Mar 12, 2014 at 10:02 AM

well to all you who have wnted me to give it a rest today is your lucky day. resting and traveling. but a couple last thoughts. on that plane they will never find it i don’t think man. the whole thing is just too odd. how the hell does a plane just go pffffffttt and gone. on the screen name its because i love large bushes and the whole brazilian thing has just been a killer for me. just a killer. bring back the bush toe size of rhoad island. on nd i will tell you flat out they will win games this eyar against navy purdue, northwestern and air force and rice. the rest are toss ups. go irish beat navy.

you know whats funny my friends is that this is a lousy board to troll because there isn’t a single one of you yet whose had a snappy comeback. i keep serving up softballs and the best you can do is a thumbs down. veryweak man. youre going to drive me out of here with your lack of humor. then how will you feel. all of you please have a lousy day.

I don’t think people responding to you are trying to be funny. Just throwing facts back that you seem to be having difficulty comprehending.

And the only guaranteed wins in college football are the games where big schools play the Georgia Southerns…wait. Nevermind. Thanks Florida. There aren’t many guaranteed wins anywhere in college football. So once again, your comment shows your lack of intelligence on the subject at hand. In other words…you’re stupid. (Report!)

Safe travels. I’m sure mom and dad are really glad that they get to have you tagging along on their trip.

I’ve been giving you plenty of thumbs down because, as I’ve been skimming over most of your comments, they are:
– immature,
– non factual,
– incoherent,
– have a total lack of understanding of what Notre Dame truly aspires to be.

There is no point in attempting a snappy comeback because it’s a total waste of time. Snappy comebacks are great for people that might actually understand them. You are the worst kind of troll; an uninformed, opinionated, ignorant hater. At least Paul Hargis can formulate an intelligent argument. (I can’t believe I just said something positive about Hargis…)

hist – probably. There’s a break in Spring practice, we’re into March Madness & the Spring thaw has begun – but it’s still cabin fever for some people. You can probably throw me into the March Madness group.

Maybe the spring thaw has begun where you are, but here in northern New England it’s not even a damn rumor yet. I love winter, as does my black lab, but enough is enough.

We on this site seem to have our own particular type of troll visit us, which I would imagine is true with the others. I would venture that we seem to attract the type who, to quote a local saying – “Not only don’t KNOW nothin’ – they don’t even SUSPECT nothin’.”

I recommend that we ignore them.

March madness – can’t come soon enough. Then the Celts get in the lottery, they get a fairly high pick out of the best draft in years, they also get Brooklyn’s 1st round pick, we have the NFL draft (I think at least one of our big three will go to the Pats) and then summer NBA free agency and the Celts get a good one. This year I hope the Pacers win the title.

I do not understand why so many of the trolls on here spend half of their comments talking about how great they are and patting themselves on the back for their cleverness. It’s funny in a sad kind of way.

in the good old days, before the interwebs and interweb trolls, we just called these people “sociopaths” and stayed away from them and everyone knew what they were. the weirdos talking to the birds in the park, the sketchy neighbor down the street that scared all the kids, and the like.

now we are in the era of digital anonymity, where anyone with an ISP address is a legend in their own minds, or at least in their own mother’s basement. and so it goes.

On a more relevant football note, it looks like Van Gorder wants to get as many big, fast athletes on the field at the same time. Speed makes up for mistakes and prevents the big plays. It is all about putting your players in the best possible position for success. Farley does not have the speed, size or aggressiveness to take over for a Smith and Motta. He is a fine athlete and seems like a great kid. He will find success on the field in 2014…somewhere.

I have walked past Farley on campus and he is not very big at all. He has made some big plays over the past couple of years and my prediction is that he will find a home as a Dime defender and on special teams in 2014. He is way down the list as a starting Safety on a Van Gorder defense.

When you don’t know what you’re supposed to be doing and thinking too much, you don’t play nearly as fast. I think in ’12 he didn’t have to think as much and was put in the right spots. He just had to be an athlete. Last year, I think he played slow bc he had so much going on in his head.

Regardless, I think he’ll play a little and could be a special teams star. And I use star loosely.

– Farley must be an amazing athlete, and a very bright kid. To think he came to ND primarily as a soccer player, and found his way into the starting line-up on the gridiron in his sophomore year is a huge credit to him.
– Farley MIGHT see the two-deep on the dime package. The quality of recruiting the last 2-3 years, plus the addition of Riggs, will make 2012 the centerpiece of Farley’s stories told in 2029.
– I’m a big Nicky Barratti fan. He played on our pee wee football team years ago, and he was an all-state TE, despite playing QB, RB, and MLB most of his time in HS. That said, the fact Onwualu is being moved to a position group that was already jam-packed doesn’t look good for my boy, NB.

it’s 2:26 a.m. and you’re missing nude…i’m sure he’d be touched to hear that. did you just get home after last call?

I know I’ve been the broken record about onwualu, but i’d really like to see him add 15-20 lbs and play some MLB. though he’d be a bit on the short side and a bit light, he has that nose for the ball and comfort with making the pads pop that are always the hallmarks of a good MLB, and because there already seems to be too much talent at safety to go around. and as irishdog pointed out, you have to have the best athletes on the field. it would be a shame to have onwualu buried behind 4-5 others at safety for the next 2 years.